Lycanthropy
by Meraculas
Summary: Nina Ash is now a werewolf, what if there was someone who could relate to the situation even better then Angel? What if it was a friendly werewolf who was a former Sunnydaler? What if he just happened to show up at Wolfram and Hart after Nina is attacked?


**A/N: **Hay, I got another story for y'all. It is simply a one-shot and it basically takes place during the Angel epsidoe "Unleashed" from season 5. The question behind it: What if Oz was in LA at the time? Reason: I love Oz!

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. You hear that nothing belongs to me.

**

* * *

Lycanthropy:**

He sat on the couch of his single apartment reading a newspaper. Angel really was in charge of Wolfram and Hart. Not a smart move really. It was dark out; he thought he might as well head out for a walk. He put the paper down on the coffee table and grabbed his coat as he passed the door.

Maybe he would pay Angel a visit over at Wolfram and Hart. Making up his mind, he walked the half hour walk to the large law firm's building.

* * *

"Hay, Angel, man." Spike said when he saw Angel the next morning. Angel ignored him as always but Spike had remembered something interesting. "Wolf boy stopped by last night, wanted to say congrats on the big office." 

"Spike." Angel turned around and sent Spike an if-looks-could-kill look.

"What was his name?" Spike muttered trying to remember. "Dated red back in Sunnydale."

"Oz?" Angel asked.

"Yah that is the bloody name!" Spike called out.

"Behind you." Oz said.

Spike jumped slightly turning to see Oz, standing behind him. "Told the poofster for yah."

"I heard." Oz replied.

"What are you doing here?" Angel asked.

"We need to talk." Oz said in his simplicity as he walked into Angel's office. Angel followed closing the door to give them privacy. "What is it?"

"Werewolf."

"I killed one with a pen last night."

"…"

"It got the woman it was chasing though."

"What she look like?"

Angel handed the sketch he had made over. Oz took it and looked at it before handing it back.

"What are you doing here?"

"In LA or in Wolfram and Hart?"

"Both."

"Been living in LA for a while now, year and a half." Oz replied.

"Wolfram and Hart?"

"To tell you that you are stupid."

"What for, taking the job?"

"Yup."

"I know, I have been told repeatedly."

"Good."

"So what was this about a werewolf you wanted to tell me?" Angel asked after a semi awkward silence.

"There is one in the city." Oz replied.

"Yah, I killed one and another is standing in front of me, also there is one that is running around that I need to find." Angel stated as he ran his hand across his forehead.

"I can control it." Oz stated. "Last night was full moon cycle night one. I came here to say hi but you were not around."

"Good for you." Angel said.

An awkward silence began between the two. It was broken when Lorne came into the office.

"Hay, Angel cakes. We might have a small glitch in that plan to find the girl…" Lorne said, he stopped when he saw Oz. "Oh, well, how is your friend?"

"Lorne this is Oz; Oz this is Lorne." Angel said. "Lorne is head of the entertainment department here. Lorne, Oz is a werewolf."

"Oh, thank you." Lorne said. "Maybe you can help us with our werewolf problem."

"Do you have something of hers?" Oz asked stopping Lorne from talking anymore.

"Not really, why?" Angel asked.

"Tracking."

"I tried; I could not even pick up a scent." Angel said.

"Difference, you are a vampire and I am a werewolf." Oz stated. "Lead the way."

* * *

Night had fallen. Nina Ash was grunting and twitching as her transformation into a werewolf began. 

"Aunt Nina? Can I come in? Can I come in?" Nina's niece Amanda asked from outside as she touched the doorknob. "Aunt Nina? Are you okay?"

Nina fully transformed now, stands and growls at the door.

"Here doggy." Oz said from her window. Angel on the ground with Wesley ready with a tranquilizer. "Do you want to play?" Nina growled at Oz. "Come and get it."

Nina lunged at Oz, who pulled her out of the window. They both went crashing violently towards the ground. Oz allowed himself to change as he wrestles with Nina. Wesley finally shot Nina with a tranq dart.

"Good shot." Angel stated as Oz changed back.

"Got a change of clothes?" Oz asked simply.

* * *

Nina woke up in a cage. She looked around and found that she was naked. She also noticed that she has some scratched on her shoulder. 

"Oh god."

Hearing someone coming towards her, she gasps. Reaching through the bars, she grabs some clothes and hurriedly puts them on. She spots a man, about her age, come in. He had spiked red hair and wore a pair of baggy cargo pants with a black t-shirt.

He sees that she is awake and gives her a smile as he puts down a first aid kit.

"What-who are you?" Nina asks seeing him take a seat just outside the cage.

"Oz." He replies. He holds up the first aid kit and makes a motion as if asking if he could come in and bandage her shoulder.

Nina only nods confused and scared. Oz unlocks the cage and walks in, closing the door behind him.

He works silently on her shoulder.

"Not one for words?" Nina asks, her voice shaking.

"No," Oz replied, "I just do not have anything to say."

"Oh." Nina replied.

"You are somewhere safe if you were wondering." Oz stated once he finished.

"So says the psycho rapist." Nina states.

"If I were going to rape you, why haven't I?" Oz asked her.

"You are taking your time." Nina replied.

"I am a quiet person, but not that patient. Sorry."

"What do you want from me?" Nina asked.

"To help." Oz responded then continued. "A friend of mine wants to show you something."

Oz led Nina to Angel's office. The walk was one made in silence.

Angel was showing her a video recording of a werewolf pacing in a cage.

"I don't— what am I supposed to be looking— God, what is that?" Nina asked.

"You don't remember?" Angel asks her in return.

"Remember?"

"2 nights ago... You were attacked... in the woods. You were jogging." Angel replies.

"Jogging. Wait. Yeah. I remember that I... that thing attacked me."

"Not exactly. I was in the area, I heard screams, but by the time I got there..."

"That was you. Yeah, I remember you... You saved me."

"I was too late." Angel stated simply.

On the video, the werewolf collapses on the floor of the cage and transforms back into human form—into Nina's form.

"Oh, my God." Nina said horrified.

"Werewolf." Oz stated from the back of the room. "You were bitten."

"No. This is... insane." Nina stated.

"The bite already started a process. You may have already started to feel the effects: Distorted vision, heightened senses." Oz continued.

"Blood. Jill, my sister, she was cooking meat. Oh, my God. I...I smelled the blood. It was making me...Oh, God, Amanda, my niece." Nina said.

"She's OK, and so is your sister." Angel reassured her.

"No, you don't get it." Nina told him.

"Nina, it's OK." Angel told her.

"No, it's not!"

"You didn't—"

"I wanted to rip her throat out!"

Nina sighs, runs her fingers through her hair, and walks toward the window.

"It wasn't you. It was the beast inside of you." Oz told her.

"Oh, like there's a difference?" Nina stated.

"There is a big one. I know this is a lot to take—" Angel began.

"Don't tell me what you know. You did not wake up and find out you are a...monster. You don't know anything." Nina told them

"I'm not a werewolf like you, but I—I know what it's like. I'm a monster, too." Angel said.

"So...what? You're like a Frankenstein?" Nina asked then pointing to Oz, she said, "And you-are you like Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?"

"What? No!" Angel says as he rubs his forehead. "I'm—I'm a vampire."

"Vampire." Nina states.

"But I have a soul. I'm—I'm not evil, and neither are you."

"But vampires kill people, and they—"

"Can control themselves if they want to. I do it every day, and so can you. I'll help." Angel told her. "Oz can help the most, though. He is a werewolf too."

"Can you...cure me?" Nina asked them. She sounded vulnerable and weak.

"No. But we can keep you safe." Angel tells her.

"How?" Nina asked.

"You can stay in the cage on the three nights of the full moon." Angel told her.

"But-what if-" Nina began.

"I will be there." Oz told her. She sent him a questioning glance. "Werewolf, remember."

Nina gave him a smile at the reminder. "Will you help me?"

"I'm no Tibetan monk, but I will help you." Oz promised. "I had to go through this alone, you will not have too."

"Thank you." Nina told him.

"No problem. Also-sorry about the shoulder." Oz said.

"Why?"

"Might have gotten a little rough before the tranq was fired." Oz stated.

"Oh…"

Angel left the office for a little while to give the others an update and to let Nina and Oz become well acquainted.

"So, how long have you…" Nina tried to ask.

"About seven years." Oz replied.

"You mentioned Tibetan monks, why?" Nina asked after a pause.

"They taught me to take control of the wolf." Oz replied. "I can control when I change."

"Is that why I have a fuzzy memory of you last night?" Nina asked. "I remember attacking you, human you. You changed once we hit the ground."

"Hay, you are already doing well. You can remember some of last night." Oz congratulated her.

Nina bent her head down, pushing some hair behind her ear as she said, "Thank you" shyly.

"No really, that is a good thing." Oz told her.

Fred walked into the office then. "Angel says that you might want to get some of your stuff. It might give a more comfortable feeling."

"Um, okay." Nina replied. She got up and went to leave before turning back to Oz, "Would you like to come?"

"Sure."

* * *

"I can not do this." Nina stated as she looked out the window of the van. 

"You can do this, come one." Fred told her.

The three of them stepped out of the van, and they walk towards Nina's house.

"Changed my mind." Nina said as she turned around.

"Um, I could go in first, explain-" Fred suggested.

"No, let's just-" Nina tried.

"You might be scared, but you can not run." Oz told her.

Nina sighed as they entered the house.

"What about fleeing? Can I flee?" Nina asked.

"Maybe they're not even here." Fred stated.

"What the hell happened to you? I've been worried— who are you?" Jill yelled at Nina as she walked up to her.

"I'm Fred. It's nice-" Fred tried to introduce her-self.

"I come home and you're just gone. Amanda was terrified." Jill told Nina.

"Jill, I'm sorry." Nina said.

"Who leaves the house without their purse or keys? What'd you do, jump out the window?" Jill asked outraged.

"You have no idea." Oz whispered so no one could hear.

"I thought Amanda heard me say I was leaving." Nina told Jill.

"Oh, that's great. Blame it on a 9-year-old." Jill stated.

"It's my fault. I called Nina like totally suicidal 'cause this guy in our ceramics class dumped me. Then my car was towed. And she wanted to call, but my cell phone battery-" Fred told Jill.

"Do you mind, whoever you are? This has nothing to do with you." Jill said angrily to Fred.

"Leave her alone." Nina stated.

"Oh, like you left Mandy alone—in the house at night? Do you know she did not want to go to school today? I had to lie, tell her I heard from you." Jill all but yelled.

"Shut up! Just shut up!" Nina cried.

"I called the police! I thought-" Jill, yelled. Calmer she said, "You sleep all day. You have bruises you do not remember getting. Just tell me. What's going on?"

"I'm sorry about last night, but you can't count on me all the time." Nina told her.

"Since when?" Jill asked.

"Just... find another babysitter." Nina said as she walked out.

"I'll just…" Fred said as she grabbed a picture, "if that's OK. And maybe…" Fred grabbed a stuffed animal, "she's... she'll be OK." Fred then walked out of the house.

Jill looked over at Oz, who was left standing alone with his hands still in his pockets.

"Do not worry, it takes time." Oz told her then left himself.

Outside Fred, Nina, and Oz are walking towards the van.

"So she was yelling and furious, but that's good. It means, you know, she cares." Fred said.

"If something happened to Amanda…" Nina said.

"But it didn't, and it's not going to." Oz told her.

"You don't know that." Nina told him.

"Angel will-" Fred began, she noticed that the van's door was slightly ajar. "That's weird." Fred looked inside the van and noticed that the security guards were dead. "And really not good. Run!"

Fred took out her tranq gun as several masked men pour forth out of a nearby van. The men grab Nina, who screams. Oz fights off some of the men. Fred shoots some of the men with her tranq gun, but another man grabs her from behind. She punches him in the face with her elbow, but another man knocks her out. Fred falls to the ground. Oz is knocked out from behind.

A masked man says into his cell phone, "We got the package."

* * *

Angel, Gunn, Wesley, Fred, and Oz stood in Angel's office having a meeting. 

"Lorne's read the entire security team already and the lab staff, as well as half of my department." Wesley told them.

"If the kidnappers have someone inside Wolfram & Hart, Lorne'll know." Angel stated.

"What if she was detected somehow before we found her?" Wesley asked.

"Yeah, but by whom?" Gunn asked.

"The scariest thing was how organized they were, almost military." Fred said.

"An underground monster-hunting military organization. It's happened before." Wesley told them.

"I know." Oz said, "Had a bad run in with one. They tried to cut me up."

"It's my entire fault. I'm stupid." Fred said.

"Anything happens to Nina, it's on me." Angel stated.

"That's weird. Why don't I just approach the mysteriously ajar door?" Fred said.

"Stop with the mocking. Get enough of that from blondie bear." Gunn told her.

"Spike. Has anyone seen him since-" Fred said with a look of concern.

"Since he went poof? No." Angel replied.

"Uh, but it's been hours. Angel-" Fred said as she stood up.

Royce knocks on the door, and then enters the office.

"What do you got?" Angel asked.

"Usual suspects. There are the sacrificers, wackos who want to rid the world of abominations, and werewolf packs looking for new recruits. Then there are the paranormal sporting groups." Royce told them.

Fred sees a sort of transparent Spike walking through the lobby.

"I'll be…" Fred said as she ran out of the office.

"Vampire hunting in Eastern Europe. That kind of thing." Royce continued.

"Spike. Spike wait! Spike!" Fred called out following Spike through the lobby.

* * *

Oz had stayed behind while Angel and the others got Nina back. He sat outside of the cage her still unconscious, but now human, body was lying in. He noticed her begin to stir and knew she would be grateful for the clothes and blankets he put out for her. 

She sat up right suddenly.

"Morning." Oz greeted her. "Clothes. I got them from your house."

"Thank you." Nina told him as she carefully put them on.

Once the clothes were on Oz opened the door for her and sat back down.

"Do you ever talk?" Nina asked. "It is just you do not seem to talk a lot."

"I talk more then I did before." Oz told her.

"You talked less?"

"I was in Tibet for a while learning to control the wolf." Oz began to explain, "I stayed with these monks. They never talk, maybe a word a day. I at least said a word an hour. The most I ever heard one say in a day was "calm your mind"."

"Wow." Nina said, "So no Tibetan monks for me, thank you."

"They are not that bad." Oz stated.

"Really?" Nina asked.

"Trust me; I did what I wanted to." Oz told her.

"Why?"

"Why what?" Oz asked.

"Why did you want to control it?"

"I killed someone to protect my ex-girlfriend." Oz said, "I killed another werewolf who was going to kill Willow, but Willow still said no so I left."

"I am sorry." Nina told him.

"But you have a better cause." Oz told her, "Now, I am no Tibetan monk, but I will do my best to help you."

"Thank you." Nina told him.

* * *

Oz had become a frequent fixture at Wolfram and Hart. Today Oz was at his apartment. He placed a woven beaded rug one the floor and sat down on it to meditate. He had been meditating for an hour when a knock came at his door. The got up and opened it. 

"Nina." Oz greeted as he stepped aside to let her enter.

"What are you doing?" Nina asked him. That evening would be the first night a Nina's second full moon cycle and Oz was going to help her control the wolf.

"Meditation, it helps." Oz told her. The incense he had lit reached her nostrils.

"Rose, peppermint, lavender, jasmine, violet, lilac, lemon, pine, and rosemary." Nina told him.

"You are forgetting one." Oz told her as he moved back to his rug.

"It has a nice smell, what is it?" Nina asked.

"Lotus." Oz told her. "They are to help you."

"They smell nice."

"Come here." Oz told her as he took out another rug and laid it on the ground for her. "Meditate, find your center, and find who you are."

Nina sat down and began meditation. They sat there for three hours until another knock came at Oz's door.

"Keep going." Oz told Nina as he got up to get it.

He opened the door and found Angel standing there.

"Hay, have you seen Nina there is an hour until sundown?" Angel asked.

"In here." Oz said.

"I need an invite." Angel told him.

"I know." Oz replied, "I will get her."

"Oz." Angel said.

"Angel, you are a friend, but I am not letting you in my apartment yet." Oz told him. "Nina, one hour 'til sundown, come on."

"Okay." Nina said as she got up.

"Go with Angel I will be there a minute or two after you guys, I need to get something." Oz told her.

"Okay."

Once they left, Oz grabbed some of the beads and blankets in the room and put them in a duffle bag. He then grabbed some incense, herbs, oils, candles, and stones and added them to the bag. As he, left he grabbed Nina's bag that she had forgotten.

* * *

Oz sat on his rug meditating as Nina walked back and forth inside the cage. Everything he brought was laid out to help calm Nina and him-self. Nina seemed to be calmer. The clock struck midnight and Nina had completely relaxed. Oz continued to meditate as his past came back. 

Memories of pacing in his cage back at Sunnydale. The memory of Veruca and connection they had shared when they made love as wolves. The memory of Willow finding them, together. Killing Veruca and seeing Willows face.

Oz shook himself a little to resist the urge of entering the cage with Nina.

The memories continued. Memories of returning to Sunnydale. Willow's scent on Tara. The night he had with Willow. Of attacking Tara in the school. Of waking up in the Initiative. Of Riley rescuing him.

The next thing he knew, the clock was striking six and Nina was calling his name.

"Oz. Oz!" Nina called out to him.

Oz jolted back to reality was slight jump.

"What?" Oz asked, then seeing Nina he asked, "What time is it?"

"Six in the morning." Nina replied.

"Sorry." Oz said as he unlocked the door for her.

"Thank you." Nina said, "What are you sorry for? What happened to you?"

"Nothing." Oz replied. "How did it go?"

"I am not sure, but there were times that I knew what I was doing, and I felt calm." Nina told him.

"The herbs, incense, oils, candles, and stones all have magical properties that would help you." Oz told her.

* * *

They continued the way they had until Nina managed to gain full control over the wolf during the night. Oz then had her meditate in the cage starting from an hour before sundown. He locked the cage just incase, he also removed the clocks so they would not know the time. Nina managed to meditate threw the nights with out changing. Oz then gave her a simple bracelet. Nina asked what it was for, and Oz gave no reply. Come the next full moon oz had disappeared and Nina was not sure what to do. She sat in the cage and tried to meditate but found she could not. She asked for Angel, when Angel arrived, she asked where Oz was. Angel told her that nobody knew he just left the day before. The apartment was still there under his name, he was just not in it. Nina managed to stay in control the entire night and the next two. 

The next month Oz had returned. Everyone asked where he had gone Oz gave no reply. That night he sat with Nina like always, but he did not meditate.

"Where were you?" Nina asked around midnight.

Oz looked up at her and spoke for the first time since he returned, "I had to see someone."

"Who?" Nina asked. "Was it Willow?"

Oz had spent some nights telling her about his past.

"No."

"Who was it then?"

"A close friend of mine, she helped me when I was in Tibet." Oz replied simply.

"Oh, okay." Nina said dejectedly.

"Her name is Drusilla." Oz replied after an hour had passed.

"Drusilla?"

"She is a vampire, Angel sired her." Oz explained.

"Oh, okay." Nina said. "Last month, nothing happened."

"I know."

"Why?"

"The bracelet." Oz replied simply, "The beads are made of the stones I used, the string is woven from the herbs and it was cleansed by holy water and the incense."

"Wow."

Another hour passed in silence.

"Everyone so often you have to let it out Nina." Oz said suddenly.

"What?"

"Every so often you have to let the wolf out." Oz told her again. "Last month I flew out to the woods near Wales. Drusilla and I hunted every night. Dru would watch over me, make sure I let everything out completely. We always go to the woods so no families will get hurt."

"But…"

"It is like shaking a can off pop. There is only so long you can shake it until there is too much pressure gathered. If you shake it too much it will end up exploding." Oz explained, "If you do that to yourself, when you explode there will be no chance of controlling yourself."

"Has that ever happened to you?" Nina asked him.

"Yes." Oz replied simply before standing up and opening the cage door, closing it behind him. He sat down opposite Nina and looked her straight in the eye.

"I exploded when I killed Veruca." Oz told her. "I exploded when I almost killed Tara."

Nina reached over and stroked his jaw, "You are strong."

Oz looked up at her, "Everyone is strong and everyone is weak. It is how you use your strengths and weaknesses that make you human."


End file.
